PROLOGUE - MEHTAP I

6 hours ago

10 min read

⚠️ Suitable for adult readers. May contain triggering content. ⚠️

Mehtap ~

I had just fallen asleep when someone first knocked on the door, then started ringing the bell. "No, if I'm not opening the door, I'm obviously not available. Why the hell do you keep ringing?"

I felt around with my feet until I found my fluffy slippers. "What's with the persistence? Has a war broken out?"

I slipped on my robe and got to my feet. As the doorbell's melody filled my ears, I tried to figure out who could be ringing so insistently at this hour. Had something happened to someone?

I quickened my steps. "Emin, if that's you, I'm seriously going to crack your skull this time."

When I opened the door, I blinked several times at the person standing in front of me. Was I still dreaming? No, this had to be a nightmare.

"Baran!"

His face was covered in bruises. Someone had beaten up my milk brother recently. When I noticed him leaning against the doorframe, I took his arm. Why was he so hot?

"Mehtap, you need to run." I frowned and studied Baran. He was trembling.

I pushed the door shut with my foot and guided him toward the couches. When I saw the sweat running down his forehead, I reached for his neck. He was burning up. He gripped the armrest as though he had no strength left. I thought he might be having a seizure.

"Wait, I'll get you some water."

I hurried to my bedroom and grabbed my phone, then went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water.

"I did everything I could to shake them off, but they're coming. You need to get out of here right now."

Ignoring the glass in my hand, he pushed me toward the door.

"Baran, where am I supposed to go and leave you like this? Who's coming? Why do I need to run?"

He swallowed a few times and drew several breaths, hoping to regain his strength. "Mehtap…"

Just then, someone started pounding on the door as though they had a debt to collect. Baran and I exchanged glances. A worried expression appeared on his face, and when I noticed it, I panicked.

"The ağa of the Candar aşiret, the one Maho kidnapped a girl from… the man they made you part of a berdel arrangement with… He's here, Mehtap." His gaze went to the door. "He's come to take you."

When the door broke open, I flinched and sat down on the couch. The glass of water rolled across the floor. Three large, heavily built men entered the living room. The one dressed differently from the others, wearing a pimp-style shirt, looked me up and down as he approached. There was something wrong with his gaze. He looked like a pervert. I quickly knotted the belt of my robe.

Even though Baran was shaking uncontrollably, he tried to put me behind him. And he managed it…

The man looked us both over and spoke in a sleazy tone. "Baran, are you trying to say, 'My uncle's daughter belongs to me'?"

I wanted to punch him right in the mouth.

"Get the hell out, Azad! There's no girl here to hand over to you."

"Your cousin's quite a beauty. May God keep her for whoever she belongs to."

He paused for a few seconds. "Well, would you look at that! She belongs to me," he said, bursting into laughter.

His laugh was so disgusting it made me want to throw up. I couldn't spend a minute with a man like this, let alone marry him. What was that supposed to mean, he owned me? Maybe he should eat a little less and try taking care of himself first.

I snapped at him angrily. "What the hell do you think you're talking about? I'll make you my slave and walk you around on a leash. Then we'll see who owns whom!"

Baran's trembling grew worse. From the way his body tensed, I could tell he didn't like me talking back to Azad Ağa.

"Oho… Well, look at this! Baran? You see that? Looks like my married life is going to be pretty entertaining. I was worried your cousin would turn out to be a pathetic weakling like you."

You're the pathetic one, you thug-looking bastard! No one else had ever broken down my wooden door and barged into my apartment.

"Go ahead, say whatever you want now. Later, they'll make you regret it so badly…" I leaned forward and looked at Baran's face. "What did you say this bastard in the pimp shirt was called, bıraşîr?"

"It's Azad Candar, xwehşîr."

"Oh, really…" Pretending to be disappointed, I turned toward Azad. "What exactly did your name mean again?"

Azad Ağa let out a long laugh and turned toward the men beside him. "Is this girl crazy or what? Did they really think some lunatic was good enough for me?"

"You should be grateful to have me. What's wrong with me? I'm perfect, thank God." He parted his lips to answer.

"Oh, wait, I forgot to finish what I was saying. Don't you worry! You'll be desperately longing for the freedom your name means, Azad Ağa."

He took a few steps toward us. "I guess… I'm supposed to think back to your earlier question and connect it to what you just said, right?"

He clicked his tongue. "I don't have that kind of time, my future little wife. We've got a nikâh to perform."

The man on his left grabbed Baran, who was shaking with fever in front of me, by the arm and hurled him against the wall. Already beaten before arriving here, Baran couldn't get up from the floor and lost consciousness. Maybe he wasn't having a seizure but was bleeding internally. I didn't know. The man who'd thrown Baran stepped back to make way for Azad Ağa.

I leaped over the couch and got behind it. Backing toward the wall, I shouted, "Listen to me! You don't know who I am. I'll kill you!"

He mocked me. "You're like a frightened little bird, Firecracker."

Those two words made it feel as though boiling water had been poured over my head. My ears began ringing as pressure built in my stomach.

'Shh! Be quiet, Firecracker. Don't worry, I'll do my best not to ruin that beauty of yours.'

My throat tightened. I was triggered before I could stop it.

Calm down, Mehtap. Take a deep breath… You can't have an episode right now. You have to pull yourself together.

As Azad Ağa came around the couch and started toward me, I fled to the farthest corner of the room.

"Don't do that, my future little wife. Are we going to play a game of corner tag?" He sounded thoroughly fed up.

One of his men approached and lunged for my arm. I grabbed his arm just as quickly and punched him in the face before he could react. The man staggered backward in confusion.

For the first time, I saw Azad Ağa become serious. His eyes lit up as though he'd discovered an ancient treasure. Clearly, he was another psychopath, just like Serhat Arslan. Every time one lunatic stopped being a problem, another appeared in my life.

This time, two men lunged to grab me at once. I struck one in his private parts, then jumped onto the other's neck and bit his ear.

While I was struggling with those two hulking brutes, someone grabbed my hair from behind.

'Stop! You're hurting me! Let go of my hair!'

A shudder ran through my entire body. No begging this time, Mehtap. Even if you know you'll die in the end, you're going to fight back!

"I hope you'll be this feisty in our bedroom, too. If you turn into a little kitten in there, we're going to have a problem."

I wrapped my arms around the throat of the man whose ear I'd bitten and tried to choke him. Azad Ağa yanked my hair so hard that, just as the man was about to pass out, my grip loosened and I was thrown backward with him. Azad wrapped his other arm around my waist, trying to restrain me.

I jerked my head backward and slammed it into his head. "Get your disgusting hands off me!"

Although the impact sent a small throb of pain through my head, the blow to his nose had forced him away from me. I escaped from all of them and retreated into the corner again.

Could I run fast enough to get through the door before they reached me?

After a split-second's thought, I bolted toward the door, only to be yanked back by my hair again. This time, I also took a vicious slap across the face. Suddenly, I remembered the slap I'd given Serhat earlier today. What was this, karma? With both my lip and cheek stinging, I realized Azad Ağa had hit me with all his strength.

"I'm Azad Candar! I've gotten everything I've ever wanted. No matter who stands in my way, I'll get what I want again. No one, absolutely no one, can stop me."

I gave him a mocking smile. "Then this will be a first for you."

I trusted my family more than I trusted myself. The Kandemirs…

He winked at me. "So you're going to put a leash on me, huh? Remind me to put one on you on our wedding night… A leash."

As we went through the front door, I slipped one leg between his, making him stumble. I grabbed his shirt and braced myself.

"You son of a bitch!" I drove the part of my forehead just below my hairline straight into the bridge of Azad Ağa's nose, exactly as Emin had taught me.

Taking advantage of his confusion, I sprinted toward the stairs and began bounding down them two or three at a time. I didn't look back, not even for a second. I knew I'd lose my strength if I did. So I kept running down the stairs with everything I had.

I rushed out of the apartment building and straight into the street. Several men in suits standing on the sidewalk turned toward me in surprise. Oh, no. Were they Azad Ağa's men? Fuck my luck!

At that very moment, the door of a Transporter-style van opened, and I saw Metehan getting out. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding and, hearing noises coming from the building, ran to Metehan for protection.

Metehan asked worriedly, "Yenge, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

I put him between myself and the danger, moving behind him.

"Mehtap yenge?"

I no longer had the strength to speak. I began trembling uncontrollably. I'd done everything on the adrenaline surging through my body, and that brief pause had drained every ounce of strength I had left.

I heard Azad Ağa shouting. "That fucking woman! Just let me get my hands on her. She'll be looking for somewhere to run!"

When they heard Azad Ağa's voice, Metehan and the other men in suits drew their guns.

One of them approached me. "Yenge, get in the car."

"No way."

I couldn't get into a car with so many men. Just because they were helping me right now didn't mean I could trust them. Men were all as bad as one another. At least the ones I knew were. My own flesh-and-blood grandfather had made me this way, and my father had turned a blind eye. The only people I trusted were my milk brother Baran and our boys. That was it!

Azad Ağa and his men came out of the apartment building and stepped onto the road. That was when they noticed the guns pointed at them. Azad Ağa's eyebrows rose slightly when he saw Metehan.

"Meto?"

Did they know each other? How? Why? From where? I instinctively backed away, putting half a step more distance between myself and Metehan. My legs were still trembling, and I had no energy left to run.

"I've got bad news for you, Azad. I know a man who'd fuck up your life over a single hair on this woman's head."

Azad Ağa frowned and looked at Metehan and the guns aimed at him. He didn't seem particularly frightened. Just then, I saw Serhat rounding the corner with a bouquet of white roses in his hand.

Metehan grinned. "Speak of a good man, and here he comes. What would you like me to tell him?"

When I saw Serhat, I was bewildered by the feeling of safety spreading through me. My gaze drifted toward his lips. He was smiling. Seeing him like that made me feel butterflies in my stomach I hadn't even known existed.

Serhat Arslan began walking in slow motion. Or maybe that was just how it felt to me, because I watched his every movement carefully for what seemed like a long time. He was wearing a loose T-shirt the same color as my nightgown and pants made from flowing fabric. The universe had to be playing games with us. Both of us had the same cheek reddened, and the corner of each of our mouths was split.

I watched him lift his gaze from the bouquet. His eyes found me immediately, as though he'd sensed I was there. When he saw my painful wounds, his smile froze. He frowned as though he could sense everything I was feeling, then carefully studied the people his men were pointing their guns at. His gaze lingered on Azad Ağa's back longer than on the others. Once he'd grasped more or less what was happening, he lowered the bouquet of white roses to his side and quickened his pace.

Azad Ağa gestured toward me with his head, apparently thinking he was completely in the right or that Metehan would somehow understand the situation. "I have a berdel arrangement involving this woman, Meto. The woman standing behind you is as good as my wife. Hand her over, and we'll leave without making a bigger deal out of this."

I saw Serhat's eyebrows shoot up and then drop. The expression on his face was a little… strange. A few steps later, he reached Azad Ağa and placed a hand on his shoulder. Azad hadn't noticed Serhat approaching, so he turned around reflexively at the touch.

The mocking expression on Serhat's face didn't change. "While I'm at it, why don't I arrange your wedding, too?" The corners of his lips curved more sharply. "How about a royal wedding? I'll host you at my most prestigious hotel, and you can come to Oman for your honeymoon."

I frowned involuntarily. I looked first at Metehan, then at Serhat.

Were they going to hand me over to Azad Ağa?

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